Help afghans india’s afghanistan strategy must prioritise giving emergency visas to those suffering under taliban

Help afghans india’s afghanistan strategy must prioritise giving emergency visas to those suffering under taliban

The ongoing four-day meeting of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation’s Regional Anti-Terrorist Structure has brought to Delhi officials from all member countries, including those from Pakistan and China, with substantial focus on Afghanistan. With global attention on the Ukraine war, sanctions and their economic impact, Afghanistan, abandoned by the US to Taliban, has slipped into hell over the last three months – there’s now a virtual collapse of administrative structures and the local economy. Healthcare facilities are scarce and more than 20 million Afghans – half the country’s population – are facing acute hunger. Girls are barred from getting secondary education, women can no longer get a driving licence and are not welcome in the job market.

These terrible humanitarian and social tragedies have not seen any concerted global effort to help, in part because most governments are reluctant to deal with Taliban. And unsurprisingly terrorism and violence haven’t abated either. Iran and Pakistan have seen hundreds of thousands of Afghan refugees pour in. But the security situation in Afghanistan affects all SCO members, including India. In recent weeks both the Islamic State and the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan have stepped up their activities on both sides of the Durand Line. Add to this the hard-to-believe hardliners of Taliban’s Kandhari group that wants even more medievalism.

All of this further jeopardises India’s painstaking investments in Afghanistan over the last two decades. Pakistan, of course, will try to use Taliban to block any Indian move, which means New Delhi has to work more closely with Tehran to maintain a strategic foothold in the region. But New Delhi should also help itself by continuing to send humanitarian aid to Afghanistan, even if dealing with Taliban is an unlovely prospect, and expediting emergency visas for Afghan nationals. The last is crucial. This is no time to forget our Afghan friends.